Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-07-23

Now, child of God. do not play the IN
idel. After God has filled the Bible
till it can hold no more with stories Of
the good things ahead, better not talk
about uncertainties.
THE DREAD OF DEATH.
But you say: IL cannot think Of
parting from friends here" If you
are old, you have more friends in
heaven than here. Just take the
census. Take some large sheet Of
paper and begin to record the names
of those who have e~migrated to the
other shore; the companions OF your
school days, your early business
associates, the friends of mid-life and
those who more recently vent away.
Can it be that they have been gone SO
long you do not care any more about
them, and you do not want their
society," Oh, no! There have been
days when you have felt that you could
not endure it another moment away
from their blessed companionship.
They have gone. You say you would
not like to bring them back to this
world of trouble, even if you had the
power. 1t would not do to trust you.
God would not give you resurrection
power. Before tomorrow morning
you would be rafting at the gates of
the cemetery, crying to the departed:
Gone back to the cradle where you
slept! come back to the hall where you
used to play! come back to the table
where you used to sit!' and there
would be a great burglary in heaven.
No, no! God will not trust you with
resurrection power; but he comprom-
Uses the matter and says: you cannot
bring them VIII re you are, but you
can 90 where they are" They are
more lovely now than ever. We're
they beautiful here, they are more
beautiful there.
Beside that, it is more healthy there
for gu than here, aged men; better
climate there than these hot summers
and cold winters and late springs; bet
ter hearing: better eyesight; more tonic
in the air; more perfume in the bloom;
more sweetness in the song. Do you
not feel, aged man, sometimes, as
though you would like to get your arm
and foot free? Do you not feel as
though you would like to throw away
.spcctacles and canes and crutchesP
Would you not like to feel the spring
and elasticity and mirth of an
ETERNAL BOYHooD?
When the point at which you start
frnn thtg Vrncll - old ar, and 4h,
point to which YOU 90 is eternal %juven.
essence, aged man, clap your hands AT
the anticipation, and say, in perfect
rapture of soul: The time of my de-
parture is at hand"
l remark, again. all those ought to
feel this JOY Of the ext who have a
holy curiosity to know what is beyond
this earthly terminus. And who has
not any curiosity about it? Paul, ]
suppose, had the most satisfactory
view Of heaven, and he says: ut doth
not yet appear what we shall be-" Ii
is like looking through a broken tele-
scope: 'Now we see through a glass
darkly." Can you tell me any thing
about that heavenly placer You ask
me "a thousand questions about is thai
| can not answer. / ask you a thou
sand questions about it that you car
not answer. And do you wonder tha'
Paul was so glad when martyrdon
gave him a chance to 90 oyer anC
make discoveries in that blessed coun
tryP
THE GENES OF HEAVEN.
l hope some day, by the grace o
God, to go over and see for myself; bu
not now. No well man, no prosperet
man, | think, wants to 90 now. Blu
the time will come, | think, when
shall 90 over / want to see what they
do there, and | want to see how they
do it. | do not want to be lookln
through the gates ajar forever, l wan.
them to swing wide open. There arc
ten thousand things l want explained
about you. about myself. about the gov.
eminent of this world, about God,
about everything. We start in a plain
path of what we know, and in a minute
come up against a high wall of what
we do not know. / wonder how il
looks over there. Somebody tells me
it is like a paved city paved with
gold; and another man tells me il is
like a fountain, and it is like a tree,
and it is like a triumphal procession;
and the next man | meet tells me it is
all figurative. l really want to know,
after The body is resurrected, what they
wear and what they eat; and | have an
unreasonable curiosity to know what
it is, and how it is, and where it is,
Columbus risked his life to find this
continent, and shall we shudder to 90
out on a voyage Of discovery which
shall reveal a vaster and more bril-
liant country? John Franklin risked
his life TO find a passage between
icebergs, and shall we dread to find Il
passage to eternal summer? Men in
Switzerland travel up the heights of
the Matterhorn with alpenstock, and
guides, and rockets, and ropes, and.
getting half way up, stumble and fall
down in "a horrible. massacre. They
just want TO say they had beem at the
tops OF those high peaks. And Shall
we fear to 90 out for the ascent of the